I’m back!

As some of you already know, my site recently crashed (and burned). Thanks to some help from my family and friends, my readers, my fellow bloggers, and my techie friends, I am in the process of restoring all of the content from the old Vintage Victuals.

I have all my recipes, writing, and photos stored in Google Reader and will be slowly re-posting all of your favorite VV recipes. Unfortunately, I am unable to restore the wonderful comments that you all shared on each of my posts, but I'm sure we'll build those back up over time.

Please bear with me as I work to restore VV to its former glory. Thank you for your patience and your support!

I know what you’re thinking, dear readers. You’re thinking that I’ve been a bit slack on the blogging lately. Well, all I can tell you is I’ve been doing double blog duty – just wait until you see all the wonderful Vidalia Onion creations I’ve been making for the Vidalia Victuals Contest!!

We enjoyed making each of these Top Ten dishes in the Vidalia Victuals Contest. The hubs and I picked the top ten for their diversity, their authenticity, and their Vidalia-ness. 🙂 Each one was delicious and will definitely be in our yearly rotation. I cannot wait to see which one you, dear readers, vote for as the winner!

This is how my husband likes to make our corn when we’re having a cookout. It comes out so sweet and delicious – perfectly steamed with that buttery, salty goodness all over it! ( I’m drooling as I write.) And if you grill it long enough, it gets just a bit of that smoky, charred flavor on the edges. Once you cook corn this way, you can never go back.

Another veggie that screams “spring is here!” to me is yellow squash. We get all sorts of heirloom varieties of squash from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)* farm, and it’s always an adventure trying to figure out how to cook them. But there’s nothing better than keepin’ it simple with some salt, pepper, and olive oil – and then letting the grill do its thang. Wonderfully sweet and smoky, these grilled slices of squash are the perfect side for any summer meal.

*No worries if you are not familiar with CSAs, because I will be doing a very detailed post on our very own CSA in May! We get baskets of fresh fruits and veggies from a local farm once a week all through the growing season. Look for a post around Mother’s Day – that’s when their harvesting season kicks off.

I have gotten a lot of requests over the past several weeks for a rockin’ recipe for macaroni and cheese. In face, some of you who know me in *real life* have expressed your shock and concern over the lack of a mac ‘n’ cheese recipe here on VV. This reaction is understandable, considering that the truth is . . . . macaroni and cheese is my #1 favorite food of all time!

Here is an easy recipe for making your own roast red bell peppers in the oven or on a grill. We grow loads of bell peppers in our garden during the summer, and I’m already looking forward to this year’s crop.

Smoky, caramelized red bells are great on their own, but you will usually find them included in recipes with other ingredients, like this beef tenderloin dish. You can also puree them to make a sauce or a dip. They have a bold, sweet flavor without being spicy or overpowering. I could eat them like candy.

Here is the salad that we served during our wine-tasting party. It paired beautifully with the La Crema Pinot Noir. Everyone loved the ginger crostini in this salad – and you will not believe how easy it was to make. This would be a perfect salad to serve at a cook-out – the grilled flavors of the sausage and the onion are complimented so beautifully by the balsamic.

Over the past few months I’ve gotten some questions from readers about what “Mexicorn” is. It appears as an ingredient in several of my recipes. It’s produced by Green Giant – simply a mixture of corn, bell peppers, onion, and seasoning.